Shakespeare In Love (1998) Geoffrey Rush Philip Henslowe Joseph Fiennes Will Shakespeare Gwyneth Paltrow Viola De Lesseps Judi Dench Queen Elizabeth Ben Affleck Ned Alleyn Tom Wilkinson Hugh Fennyman Steven O'Donnell Lambert Rupert Everett Christopher Marlowe Tim McMullen Frees Steven Beard Makepeace--The Preacher Antony Sher Dr Moth Patrick Barlow Will Kempe Martin Clunes Richard Burbage Sandra Reinton Rosaline Simon Callow Tilney--Master of the Revels Bridget McConnel Lady in Waiting Georgie Glen Lady in Waiting Nicholas Boulton Henry Condell Directed by: John Madden, Arthur Wooster Produced by: Bob Weinstein, Julie Goldstein, David Parfitt It is the summer of 1593, and the rising young star of London's theatre scene, Will Shakespeare, faces a scourge like no other: a paralyzing bout of writer's block. While the great Elizabethan age of entertainment unfolds around him, Will is without inspiration on material. What Will needs is a muse--and in an extraordinary moment in which life imitates art, he finds and falls for a woman who draws him into his own dramatic adventure of star-crossed love. It all begins when Lady Viola, desperate to become an actor at a time when women were forbidden from such depravity, disguises herself as a man to audition for Will's play. But the guise slips away as their passion ignites. Now Will's quill again begins to flow, this time turning love into words, as Viola becomes his real-life Juliet and Romeo finds his reason to exist. Yet all is not well in Will's world. For even as the parchment begins to pile up, he's plagued by the fact that Lady Viola must marry the insufferable Lord Wessex. ========== Romantic comedy set in London in the late 16th century: Young playwright William Shakespeare struggles with his latest work "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter". A great fan of Shakespeare's plays is young, wealthy Viola who is about to be married to the cold-hearted Lord Wessex, but constantly dreams of becoming an actress. Women were not allowed to act on stage at that time (female roles were played by men, too), but dressed up as a boy, Viola successfully auditions for the part of Romeo. Soon she and William are caught in a forbidden romance that provides rich inspiration for his play.